Vigil for Joseph
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day one hundred and eighty-six: Mike spends an evening keeping Brittany company at the hospital.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eigth cycle. Which MEANS **cycle 9** is here, which MEANS... GLEE IS BACK!! YAY!_

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**"Vigil For Joseph"  
Mike/Brittany  
Companion to "I can try for your heart"**

Brittany hadn't come to school that day, no warning, no reason. As confused as she could get, she had perfect attendance. More than once some of them had tried to reach her, but they got nothing in response. By the time Glee practice rolled around, everyone was wondering… where was Brittany?

Mike was just leaving school when he got a call from his mother. She was a nurse, at the local hospital. His reaction didn't come until she started to mention 'that tall blonde girl from your club, the cheerleader.' A hundred frightening scenarios fought for which would get to terrify him into submission when his mother said she was there, at the hospital. But then she explained more, and the tension started to release: She wasn't there as a patient.

Once he'd learned what was going on, what his mother knew at least, it hadn't taken much deciding. He was on his way to the hospital, had to get to her. She'd told him Brittany had been there even before her shift had started, that she wouldn't leave the room, so the nurses would look out for her, bringing her breakfast, lunch, soon dinner… When he arrived, he found his mother and she told him the room number. He walked up to the door and quietly looked inside.

Brittany was sitting on a chair by the bed, legs gathered up so her chin was on her knees. She looked so much smaller than herself as her eyes remained raised on to the man in the bed, asleep. She wasn't so much lost in thought as she was stuck, in neutral… Looking at the man in the bed, he could understand why. Brittany and her grandfather, it was the big connection in her life. Suddenly the whole day made sense.

Mike took a couple of steps into the room, careful about disrupting her. Even as he got closer though, she didn't move, didn't notice him. He stopped, not wanting to get too close without her being aware he was there.

"Brittany?" her eyes turned and when she finally saw him she blinked and her head lifted.

"Hi, Mike," she spoke. He'd never seen her so… disarmed. She was always so happy, it struck him seeing her filled with this fear and sadness. At the same time, she looked so relieved to see him. Taking that into consideration, he walked around the bed, pulling a chair in to sit next to her.

"We didn't know where you were, everyone was worried, I… I was, too." She gave a small nod, looking back to the bed.

"I'm okay… He's not okay… So I don't know that I really am… okay?" Mike didn't speak, but reached to put a hand on her shoulder. "He never missed his phone calls, but he did, last night. My mom didn't believe there was anything wrong, so… I snuck out…" She quieted up, and Mike could only manage to imagine what it was she'd have found once she got there. He looked at her, still pressing at her shoulder to pass on comfort. He wasn't sure what to say, or whether he should even speak, so he didn't.

Sitting there, he couldn't help thinking of when his Grandma Joy died, and how Brittany had been there for him. Whatever happened with Grandpa Joseph, whether he got better, or whether he… Mike wouldn't leave her on her own through this. He owed her that much.

Half an hour later, his mother had come in with not one but two of the promised dinner trays, having guessed correctly that he would still be there. He took care of setting them up for the bedside meal while his mother checked up on Joseph. They shared a small look – he was thanking her, she was assuring him he could stay with her.

So the two of them had dinner. He could see from the leftover lunch and breakfast trays that her appetite was wavering, or she was distracted… If he could do anything he could get her through this meal. "You want to know something funny?" he asked, watching her take a small bite of the mac 'n cheese before her. She looked at him, a slice of curiosity peeking through.

"Okay," she responded.

"When I was little, sometimes my father would bring me, and then me and my brother, down to the cafeteria here to have lunch with my mother. I would always get the mac 'n cheese. It was my favorite, of any mac 'n cheese anyone could make. The others were just sad imitations compared to this one. It got to the point where I would refuse it if it didn't come from here."

"You don't eat it at school," she observed.

"Well that's just common sense," he smirked. She chuckled, and he brightened… there she was. It was a small boost, but it was enough to see her through dinner.

Once the meal was over though, the distractions were gone; the bed and its occupant became overly obvious to them once more. Mike pushed his chair so the arms would be against one another and Brittany was able to rest her head against his shoulder. He kept his arm around her, hoping she would relax; she couldn't have gotten much sleep the previous night.

He wasn't sure when he, or Brittany, had dozed off, but at one moment he realized he must have, because he was waking up. He'd felt movement… a departure. Then he heard a half-awake voice.

"Grampy?" He felt his eyes open, knowing her voice calling the nickname for her grandfather. She had moved out of the hold, sitting up to see what Mike could now also see – Joseph was awake.

Brittany got up, moving close to the man, who reached a hand out to touch his granddaughter's cheek. She smiled with renewed hope. "You scared me," she declared, concerned. "But I knew you weren't alright…" Mike stood from his chair after a moment, meaning to go alert one of the nurses. He had to admire how this connection they had… probably allowed her to save Joseph's life. "Wait…" he heard. He turned to find she was looking at him.

"I'm just going to…" he started, but she waved for him to step back up.

"Look," she told her grandfather. "This is Mike. He stayed with me." Joseph gave the boy a smile.

"Heard a lot about you, Mike." He nodded to him, and a moment later, he went for a nurse.

As he was stepping out, he heard Brittany ask Joseph if he liked mac 'n cheese.

THE END


End file.
